RIP Steve McNair

[mpolak21]

Holy shit! . Vibes to all involved: ESPN McNair Story

 

--Mike

[So Long]

Unbelievable. When I found out I instantly looked at that last drive against the Rams in the SuperBowl. Truly a great athlete.

[mfwahl]

Just heard about this. Tragic. Way too many famous people dying these days.

[uncool2pillow]

That guy was one tough QB. A shocking, sad loss.

[standenup]

i was pretty big on mcnair and the whole '99-'00 titans team with eddie george and what not. i couldn't believe it when i first read it.

[Sir Stewart]

Shocking.

[Moss]

So was it a murder suicide or what's the deal?

[rareair]

sad news. air mcnair was my favorite. tough SOB.

 

hard to imagine anything but murder/suicide but there were other random events of that evening that will likely cause a delay in a final conclusion.

[Guest Francis X. Hummel]

I was really sad to hear about this on Saturday. McNair was a great QB and a tough-as-fuck football player.

 

Nothing official yet, but all signs are pointing towards a murder/suicide. From what I read, McNair was a really amazing person and very charitable.

 

RIP.

 

I really hope people stop dying now. It's been nuts lately.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

I get that the guy had a reputation for being a good person, but apparently the girl was his affair, so he clearly wasn't a saint.

 

It's a tragic story, but it appears he died with a woman he was cheating on his wife with.

[cryptique]

This is all kinds of fucked up. RIP, Steve.

[rareair]

an article from nashvillepost.com this afternoon. strange shit indeed, esp the eminem wannabe ex boyfriend.

 

 

Who are the other people in the McNair case?

Questions continue to arise over those connected to Steve McNair's final days

 

Keith Norfleet

07-07-2009 3:14 PM — The death of former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair has Nashville and the entire sports world in a state of disbelief.

 

In the days since his body and that of girlfriend Sahel Kazemi were discovered in a downtown condominium, the public has heard the names of Wayne Neeley, Robert Gaddy, Keith Norfleet, and even Jett Jackson associated with the final hours of Nashville’s most famous athlete.

 

From the moment the news broke, the public has been wondering if what occurred at the downtown condominium was a murder/suicide or a double homicide. Despite a gun being found underneath the body of Kazemi, a semiautomatic that she had purchased last Thursday evening, Neeley, Gaddy, Norfleet and Jackson keep seeing their names surface in news reports.

 

Questions have arisen over who they are. The public has been questioning their actions leading up to or just after the bodies of McNair and Kazemi were discovered.

 

Why didn't Neeley call police immediately?

 

Is Norfleet a jilted ex-boyfriend?

 

Why were strange messages posted on the Internet that forecasted the deaths just days before the bodies were discovered?

 

Those questions have had law enforcement and media scratching their heads, and so far no clear answers have been provided to the public. As frustrating as it is, some questions may never be answered despite best efforts.

 

While awaiting those answers, here is a basic rundown on what NashvillePost.com and The City Paper has ascertained about the individuals forever linked to the deaths of McNair and Kazemi.

 

Wayne Neeley

 

Neely is a longtime employee of Nashville Sporting Goods, one of the largest suppliers of athletic equipment and team uniforms to youth leagues in the region. He and McNair rented the condo together at 2nd Avenue South and Lea Avenue for at least the last two years from Metro Trustee Charlie Cardwell, and it was Neeley who told police he first found the bodies of McNair and Kazemi on July 4.

 

According to friends, Neeley first met McNair when a call came in to Nashville Sporting Goods approximately a decade ago and a large order was placed to outfit an entire youth athletic league.

 

When Neeley asked how the order would be paid for he was told ‘cash,’ which piqued Neeley's interest as to who the caller was. A short time later McNair came in and paid for the items and struck up a conversation with Neeley.

 

By all accounts, the two became fast friends. Those who know Neeley, who is in his “late to mid 50s,” say that he is "fascinated" by famous athletes and was more than a little star struck. When asked to describe Neeley's character, sources said that he is an "incredibly loyal" person.

 

Asked about the reason Neeley would call someone other than police upon discovering McNair and Kazemi's body, sources said that they believe he panicked.

 

There has been speculation that perhaps Neeley removed items from the condo, thus delaying notification of the police. When questioned if he would have spent time removing illegal substances from the condo, Neeley's friends said they "don't think he would do that."

 

At a briefing by Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron on Monday, Aaron addressed the topic and stated, “We have no evidence to suggest the bodies were moved. I wouldn’t want to discuss [whether anything else was moved] at this point.”

 

Neeley has been unavailable to media since the bodies were discovered.

 

Robert Gaddy

 

Upon discovering the bodies, Neeley called Gaddy, McNair's former Alcorn State teammate. Among McNair's circle of friends he was known as "Big Daddy Gaddy."

 

After playing at Alcorn State, Gaddy was a 330-pound lineman for the now defunct Nashville Kats Arena Football team. More recently he has worked as a nightclub owner and was involved with McNair's start up restaurant, Gridiron9, and is the founder of the Red Carpet Bar & Lounge.

 

Gaddy is perhaps best known to Nashville for an incident involving former Titans player Adam "Pacman" Jones on July 12, 2005.

 

In an incident that became the first in a long list of troubles for Jones as a professional athlete, Gaddy said that Jones assaulted him at the nightclub called Club 615, located near the Titans stadium. As a result of the conflict, Jones was arrested on two counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of felony vandalism.

 

The dispute began to raise further doubts in the community about Jones's character. Due to Gaddy's relationship with the popular McNair, many in the city did not question the veracity of Gaddy's charges.

 

While that incident has long since been resolved, until calling the police and informing them of his friends death Gaddy had done nothing that brought him into the public eye. As he was one of McNair's closest friends, they were often seen around town together at various clubs. Some sources said that Gaddy was an extra level of protection for McNair in case any altercations occurred while out on the town. That is not to say they would be looking for trouble, but more of a testament to the fact that at times, bold drunks feel a need to become issues at nightclubs.

 

Keith Norfleet and ‘Jett Jackson’

 

Perhaps more intriguing than Neeley and Gaddy's involvement in the case are two individuals about whom little is known, ‘Jett Jackson’ and Norfleet, who has told police he is Kazemi’s ex-boyfriend.

 

On July 2, approximately a day and a half before the murders, a person posting under the name of ‘Jett Jackson’ of Antioch signed into their home page on the social networking Web site MySpace.com.

 

While that account has been deleted, a message was posted by either Jackson or someone with access to his account that stated, “F*** Steve McNair and he will be nobody in ‘09?” and “R.I.P. Sahel Kazemi.”

 

The person identified as Jackson is apparently friends with Norfleet, who police have said little regarding his role.

 

“As far as Mr. Norfleet is concerned, we had to interview him based on his... prior relationship with Ms. Kazemi,” Aaron said Monday. “Obviously he had certain thoughts about her relationship with Steve McNair. We needed to find out what he knew, what she may have told him in the past as we tried to put the pieces together. As far as the word ‘suspect’ is concerned, we really haven’t used the word suspect since the weekend.”

 

As for the Internet postings, Aaron stated, “the police department is aware of them. We are talking to certain individuals here in this community about them. We are also in contact with some of those Internet companies to ascertain exactly what was posted when, and if we can learn by who. That is not a process that can be done instantaneously and we’re [attempting] to answer those questions.”

 

Norfleet attended Orange Park High, located outside of Jacksonville, Fla., with Kazemi. He reportedly moved from the Jacksonville area to Nashville with Kazemi not long ago.

 

On the day that McNair and Kazemi's bodies were discovered, Norfleet admitted that he had been by the condo that very day and said that he had been looking for her.

 

According to posted Web profiles, Norfleet lives in the Antioch area and is an aspiring rapper who goes by the name KaNe.

 

He has a personal Web page on SoundClick.com where he refers to himself as “antiochs finest,” and has posted 31 rap mixes, some of which appear to refer to Norfleet and Kazemi’s relationship.

 

One of those rap mixes has content that seems to raise even more questions about Norfleet.

 

In a rap written by Norfleet, “Closed Coffin,” and posted on Feb. 2 — after McNair and Kazemi had started dating — the aspiring rapper lets loose with some rhymes that are chilling to say the least. A partial transcript of the song is below and here is a link to hear the song in its entirety. (Some of the lyrics have explicit content.)

 

Hear the entire track, here.

 

(Chorus)

"I don’t wanna be like this

I don’t really wanna hurt no feelings

But I’m only being real when I say

Nobody wanna see an old man collapse

And old men have heart attacks

I don’t wanna be responsible for that

So let the s**t go and walk away

You can still have a little bit of dignity"

 

(Lyrics)

“I would never claim to be no

Benjamin Tebow, an 83-Year old fake Pacino

So how could he run his mouth about me

Knowing nothing about me

 

I love it when a dumbass doubts me

Until I pull the pistol out proudly

Put the clip in his mouth

Til this motherf***er shouts, ‘please don’t kill’

Have you sippin through a straw for the next 8 months

That’s if you even make it through it alive you dumb f**k

 

Try to stunt and front and fronting in front of somebody else

Til you're surrounded by 20 people With nobody’s help

IF you try to go incredible hulk it won’t work

Put so many holes in you your nerves won’t even jerk

Lurking in the shadows thinking and scheming of work

Got a little cocky so you decided to flirt

Now you’re flirting with death"

 

The final verse in the song set to Eminem's "Nail in the Coffin" instrumental track is as follows;

 

"If you ever do it again b***h I’m not rapping

I’m getting a clip and clapping and I’m not laughing

They’re wrapping you up for your little trip to the morgue

While I’m preparing for my trip to the shore,

Don’t ignore me, I’m not lying, I couldn’t be more honest

If you ever do it again, you’ll die, I promise.”

 

The discovery of the song by NashvillePost.com and The City Paper staff today shows eerie connections to the case. Metro Police have stated on more than one occasion that Norfleet is not a suspect.

[tugmoose]

Well, she thought the married man she was dating was seeing someone else. Also, he bought her an Escalade for her b-day, but she had to make the payments.

 

Police: McNair shot dead in sleep by girlfriend

By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II, Associated Press Writer

21 minutes ago

 

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Former NFL star Steve McNair was shot dead in his sleep last week by a 20-year-old girlfriend distraught about mounting financial problems and her belief that he was seeing someone else, police said Wednesday.

 

Investigators may never know why Kazemi shot McNair four times as he dozed on a sofa early Saturday before turning the gun on herself, Police Chief Ronal Serpas said.

 

But interviews with friends revealed that she was making payments on two cars, her rent was doubling and she suspected the married McNair was having a second affair with another young woman. end it,” Serpas said.

 

Police earlier had labeled McNair’s death a homicide, but waited for further tests and the revelations about Kazemi’s personal problems before concluding that she pulled the trigger in a condominium McNair rented with a friend.

 

McNair, 36, a quarterback for the Tennessee Titans most of his career, met Kazemi six months ago at a restaurant where she was a waitress and his family often ate. She seemed happy and eager to build a life with him, but something went wrong.

 

“We do know that she was clearly sending a message during the last five to seven days of her life that things were going bad quickly,” Serpas said, though there was no indication she told anyone she planned to harm McNair.

 

Serpas said detectives learned that Kazemi recently found out about another young woman she thought McNair was romantically involved with and had even followed that woman home, though she did not confront her.

 

Serpas said police believe McNair was asleep when he was killed because there were no defensive wounds. After shooting McNair in the head, Kazemi apparently shot him twice in the chest before shooting him again in the head and then shooting herself. The gun was found underneath her.

 

She sat next to his body and tried to position herself to fall into his lap when she died. She did, but her body slid to the floor and ended up at McNair’s feet, Serpas said. The gun was found underneath her.

 

Kazemi’s family told reporters that the woman was so confident McNair was divorcing his wife of 12 years that she was preparing to sell her furniture and move in with him.

 

But associate Mike Mu, who has worked with McNair’s charitable association for years, said McNair’s wife, Mechelle McNair, “didn’t know who this girl is.” No records of divorce proceedings have surfaced.

 

Two days before the shooting, police stopped Kazemi driving the Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicle that McNair had given her for her birthday in May.

 

According to an arrest affidavit, Kazemi had bloodshot eyes and alcohol on her breath. She refused a breath test and told an officer “she was not drunk, she was high.” She was charged with DUI. McNair was with her but not charged. He later made her bail.

 

Serpas said that even though both her name and McNair’s were on the Cadillac’s title, she was apparently responsible for making payments. She was also making payments on another car after she couldn’t sell it.

[bjorn_skurj]

Well, she thought the married man she was dating was seeing someone else. Also, he bought her an Escalade for her b-day, but she had to make the payments.

 

That'll get anybody shot.

[Guest Jules]

Anyone have a picture of this broad?

[watch me fall]

Keep it in your pants, guys.

[Guest Jules]

[watch me fall]

Hope it (she) was worth it.

[The High Heat]

This reminds of how I dated a 19-year-old when I was 33. Oh God, what a nightmare! And it seemed like such a good idea at first.

[Kevan]

Sordid.